Yesterday on Oilers Now, host Bob Stauffer threw a new name into the hopper for Oilers fans to mull over, Boston Bruins defender Matt Grzelyck.
Here’s exactly what Bob said about the Boston rearguard,
I’ll give you a guy right now. I’m looking at Boston and they’ve got Matt Grzelyck and there’s a guy right there that Keith Gretzky drafted that I’m not even sure what Boston even had. He’s making $1.4M and I know Joe Haggerty reported last week that Matt Grzelyck might not make their team.
That’s the type of player who can skate and move the puck but think of the situation Boston’s in. They’ve got McAvoy and Carlo on the right side, they signed John Moore and on the left side they’ve got Chara, they’ve got Krug, I missing somebody else decent. Like, they’ve got 6 pretty good defensemen. Oh Miller! Anyways, the bottom line is they’ve got 6 guys and right now Grzelyck’s looking like the no.7 D.
If I’m Boston, I don’t think Boston and Edmonton are ever going to make a deal but if they put him on waivers that’s the type of guy that- and he’s making $1.4M.
Now maybe they decide to keep him there as the no.7 defenseman. I don’t know because they’ve got Kampfer who to me is the type of guy you want as a no.7 defenseman cause he’s not making $1.4M, he’s making 700k.
You can listen to the quote on yesterday’s edition of Oilers Now here. The Grzelyck part starts around the 16:40 mark.
You might remember Matt Grzelyck from a goal he scored against the Oilers last February. If not, here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIV2FUW3su4
There’s not a lot to say about Grzelyck if I’m being honest. He’s a smaller puck-moving defender that is a bit more offensively minded. He was possession positive last season playing in a 3rd pairing role for Boston and was received generally well by the Bruins blogosphere here and here.
I wonder why Stauffer would bring up a player like this when the Oilers basically have three defenders in their system (Bear, Bouchard, Jones) that could do an equal or better job as Grzelyck for a lower price. Not only that but why would the Oilers be interested in adding ANOTHER left-handed defenseman?
The other thing that bothered me is that Stauffer mentioned that salary repeatedly and I’m wondering if there’s anything there to be magnified and dug deeper upon.
Just because Gretzky drafted him shouldn’t mean that he’s an automatic candidate for acquisition but I could be wrong, not that that would be new for me. Perhaps the former BU captain would be the perfect player for the Oilers. They could send Bouchard back to London earlier, keep Bear in the minors longer, and give him the same sort of TOI and deployment Boston was giving him in order to shelter him.
JERABEK
Jakub Jerabek is another player Bob Stauffer has been talking about this week. He’s often mentioned that if Jerabek doesn’t work out in Edmonton that his agent, Allan Walsh, should be able to find him work in Europe and since he works with Vladimir Vojtek that it shouldn’t pose an issue.
My question here is, would the Oilers simply terminate the contract or would it be another loan deal and Jerabek’s contract still count on the books?
One would think that they’d do their damnedest to get that marriage annulled ASAP and retain that cap space and contract spot, no? I mean, he’s done nothing to suggest that he deserves to be on the Oilers main roster over Evan Bouchard or Jason Garrison at this point in my opinion and the fact that he’s not in the lineup vs. ARI tonight and Garrison/Bear are… Speaks volumes.
GARRISON
Based on practice.
EDM vs ARI:
RNH-McDavid-Rattie
Lucic-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Rieder-Strome-Puljujarvi
Caggiula-Brodziak-AbergKlefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Benning
Garrison-Bear— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) September 27, 2018
Looks like the old boy is in and I couldn’t agree more with the decision of the coaching staff to keep playing him. He’s looked a lot better as of recent and I’m very much in favor of the team adding more veterans to the team but it’s not only his experience and talent that I like about Jason Garrison, According to Bob Stauffer he’s been given rave reviews for his locker room demeanor with younger players from his coach last season, former Oilers asst. coach Rocky Thompson .
Chicago just gave Brandon Davidson a 1-year deal worth 650k (why had to get greedy with the Oilers is beyond me) so I hope the Oilers give Jason Garrison a similar deal if he keeps up the good work. Edmonton could use a steady Eddie on the blueline.
